Having experienced two miscarriages, I was hopeful this book would be helpful and relatable. This kind of loss is so difficult to deal with, especially when trying to explain it to a child.

While I adored the illustrations, I was blindsided by how religious the message is, especially since it was written by a doctor.  When I saw that it was listed as "nondenominational", I figured religion would not be a factor. Sadly I was mistaken. My family does not depend on myths for its strength and support, so this book was no help to us.

Thank you to NetGalley and Greenleaf for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tasteful illustrations and a carefully developed text take a sensitive subject and turn it into a bittersweet but uplifting story, written in a way that adults and children can both relate to.

Why is Mommy Crying? by I. Cori Baill is a book about explaining early pregnancy loss to young children. I work in mental health and while I think the subject matter was an excellent idea and there needs to be books published to help young children and their parents cope with pregnancy loss, I personally felt like this book was a bit simplistic especially in the way it characterized the unborn baby returning to be with God. I am a Christian and believe in God. However, not everyone is a Christian and not everyone believes in God. At the very least, I would recommend this book be labeled as Christian reading.

Thank you to netgalley.co.uk for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

When I first saw this book up for review, I knew I just had to try it. It deals with the heartbreaking subject of child loss which, in the 21st Century, most people seem to treat it as a taboo subject. I think the author handled this sensitive subject in a brilliant way, I believe this is a brilliant book to start a conversation with children on baby loss and mental health. It is a lovely book to help adults guide the conversation of grief with young children. I hope this book gets picked up by a lot of parents and should be every school or library. I think it would be a brilliant resource and hopefully make miscarriage less of a taboo subject.

'Why is Mommy Crying?' is a book about pregnancy loss and explaining this loss to a young child. I found this book difficult to read. I do think this was an excellent concept, I just did not enjoy how it was executed. I myself have experienced pregnancy loss and I do think it is very important to have a way to explain this to your children. One point is that the book is religious, while I am religious I do think it is important to make sure this book is marked as a religious reading. This may work for a religious audience, but someone that does not have that background may leave this book a bad review if it is not well known before their purchase. Overall I think the book missed the mark. 

Would I recommend this book to a friend? Possibly.

The book explores an extremely delicate subject; that of the loss of a child. 
How to explain it to children? How to explain a mother's pain to them? How to explain death?
The author and the illustrator succeed; the ending does not contain sadness but hope and love. Recommended for parents looking for a book to explain this topic to their children.

"Max found his favourite place. It was nice and warm."

4

Dr. I. Cori Baill has written a tender children’s book using the love between mother and son to explain the early loss of a child (sibling) during pregnancy. While simply written, this book should be read and discussed between either child and parent(s) or child and therapist. This will be difficult for a child to grasp without hard questions, maybe at the wrong time.
 I cried so hard before I wrote this review. I have lived with medically-induced infertility (with no children) for 25 years, and have had these discussions with my nieces and nephews. Why is Mommy Crying definitely would have been helpful during those conversations.

Often children's books about grief focus on the loss of a pet or grandparent and fail to acknowledge that parents might also be grieving alongside the child.  "Why is Mommy Crying?" by I. Cori Baill, MD is a refreshing resource that blends what kids need to know and what they yearn to hear when loss has occurred within the family.  With 10-20% of pregnancies ending in miscarriage, it is surprising that more resources for guiding families through this particular sort of grief are not readily available. 

Dr. Baill beautifully acknowledges a child's fearfulness when he observes his mother crying and upset.  The parents in the book are loving, affirming, and relatable.  Their continued acknowledgement of their own sorrow and efforts to continue nurturing rituals with the main character brings comfort to the reader.  I appreciate the diverse family representation, as diverse family structures are often not represented in children’s books about grief.  There is a religious component to the dialogue but it remains nondenominational and relatively open to a varieties of faith practices.  As a mental health clinician, I value the author's creation of a character who experiences a careful balance of emotional vocabulary, attachment affirmation, and exploration of what has occurred.  The book includes a resource page to further connect adult readers with supports.  I intend to introduce this book to my clinical resource library as I'm certain it will be an invaluable resource to many families navigating pregnancy loss.  

#bibliotherapy #newrelease #bookreview #pregnancyloss #miscarriage #mentalhealth #grief #therapy #familytherapy #childtherapy

I had really wanted to love this book. Having experienced two losses myself, I was instantly grabbed by the title. My husband and I weren't sure how to talk to my stepdaughter about it, or if we even should. And when I became pregnant again, we didn't know if we should risk getting her hopes up. I thought this book might be helpful for people in the same predicament.

The illustrations are beautiful, but what I wasn't expecting was how religious this book is. Being written by an MD, I had expected something different, I guess. The synopsis refers to the book as nondenominational, so I guess I should have anticipated it to be religious, but I assumed it was secular based on that description.

The book explains that God sometimes takes unborn babies back. This book unfortunately isn't for everyone. I would love to see a similar book for children without the religious overtones. My stepdaughter was not raised to believe in God, so this book would be of no help to her.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Greenleaf Book Group.

Started off fantastic. I was really hoping this would be a book i could utilize in ECE with the hope that it wasnt too religious. I was wrong. I should have read the description more carefully but i was excited seeing a book about miscarriage. Beautiful

As someone who had a miscarriage, I really appreciate the availability of a book like this. I have a healthy child now but I worried about how to explain it to him if it were two happen in the future. I also have a number of friends who did have kids when they had their miscarriages and struggled with what to tell them. 

I think this was a really good idea, and I think overall it did really well, but I would flag in the description that it’s religious. I’m not against religious books and I do believe in something bigger than us, but I have a number of friends who wouldn’t love that. A little hint in the description would help people gift this to the right people.

This little sweet book, written from the perspective of a little child seeing his mother grieve, is so endearing and a real solace to those tender aged children whose parents, and themselves to some extent, have to deal with miscarriage. The questions that the main character asks are easily understood and relatable, while giving factual information, there is assurance for the young ones of their parents continued love and presence.

This book is a  heartfelt book that will make an important impact if a family is going through a grieving time because of the loss of a pregnancy.  All involved will have a chance to dialogue and share their feelings about the loss of another potential family member who is now no more. 
  
Max wakes up in the middle of the night and takes his stuffed monkey, named Mink, with him as he goes off to his parents bedroom.  On his way there he sees that his mother is sitting in the living room by herself crying.  Concerned for her he asks if she has an "owwie" and volunteers to get a Band-Aid to help her heal.  

 "What are you two monkeys doing up?  Mommy asked."If you're cold in your jammies, you can rock with me."  

Snuggling together under her quilt she gently relates to him the reason for her tears.  

"Sometimes a baby returns to be with God."  She further explains that: "God will take care of our baby." 
 
 The illustrations are beautiful and so enrich the story.  The couple is interracial and the love they share as a family unit flows from page to page and is visually showcased so well.  The author has included a list of " Additional Resources: at the back with offers websites about grief.  I love the book and highly recommend it.

Trigger Warning: Child Loss

2/5 stars

Genre: Children's Fiction

Description: 

One is often at a loss how to engage with those in grief, whether adult or child. Because miscarriage affects about a third of pregnancies, most readers likely know someone who has experienced this sadness.

This beautifully illustrated, inclusive, nondenominational picture book helps recipients of every age know that the door is open, and a caring person is on the other side. Written by an experienced physician, Why is Mommy Crying? comforts in the context of family and the larger universe. Young ones are also helped in navigating their fears.

The young protagonist, Max, uses his imagination, and accompanied by his stuffed animal, Mink, begins to understand what has made his mother sad. His imagery and ideas offer a gentle springboard to discuss with children and the adults who love them the broader concepts surrounding grief and recovery.

Pros:

- The art is well done.
- It includes resources at the end.

Cons:

-  Addresses Child Loss in a religious way (god gives us babies and sometimes he takes them back) which isn't for everyone. 
- I'm not sure how old Max is supposed to be (he seems pretty young the way he's drawn) but some of the language he uses isn't appropriate for a young child.
- I respect what the author was trying to do I just don't think it quite hit the mark. 

Would I recommend it?

Unfortunately, no.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Why is Mommy Crying is a beautiful and easy to understand young children's book to help parents explain to their child/children about the loss of an unborn baby. 
This book is easy for little ones to grasp the concept of the loss of an unborn sibling or family member. It is a delicate and well worded story.
This book would be a very beneficial book to have within a nursery or school for families to borrow and share to help support the child and the parent.

This is a book that should be recommend and praised for it's subject matter. To include children and register that this is also a sad and confusing time for them would no doubt aid the healing process and unite the family in their time of grief. The only limitation to this book would be the religious aspect as it will not suit all families.

Why is Mommy Crying? is a wonderfully illustrated and written resource for kids and families that explains pregnancy loss in an easy-to-understand way.  It is written in such a way that I believe young children can grasp the concept.  The book also deals with the emotions that the child and parents have in experiencing the loss.  It also has a list of additional resources in the back of the book that can be helpful as well.  I highly recommend this book to those families that have went through pregnancy loss,.  It would also be a good resource for those working with children and those in the counseling field.  Thank you to NetGalley and the Author for the opportunity to read this book.  (This review is on Amazon and GoodReads.)

A read that is important to share, especially with young children. I can imagine it would be extremely difficult for parents going through miscarriage to read this, but perhaps grieve together as a family.

As a fellow loss mom, it was an honor to read this book. I will definitely purchase a copy for myself for future children to read one day. Always remembering my girl, lost at 20 weeks. The illustrations in this book were really beautiful. I would have liked to seen the text fleshed out a bit more.

A difficult, sad subject is handled deftly with sweet, cozy illustrations and sensitive text.  I appreciate that the author asks the questions from Max's point of view; these are the questions a worried child would ask.  The illustrations are comforting and aid in this gentle, loving explanation of what happens when a family loses a baby to miscarriage.  The text does mention God, but in a tactful way that is not overpowering and does not preclude the reading enjoyment of children and families who are not religious.  A warm and safe ending will help young readers feel comfortable and secure.  This is an excellent choice for anyone wanting to broach this sensitive topic with a young family member.